If
a catheter is also placed in the right femoral vein to measure pressures
of the right side of the heart, the procedure is called "right heart"
catheterization. It may be used in certain cases of significant
heart failure or hypotension, constrictive pericarditis, restrictive cardiomyopathy,
valvular heart disease, ruptured ventricular septal defect, congenital
heart diseases, or when a measurement of the heart output and pulmonary
artery and capillary wedge pressures are needed to safely manage the patient
during a diagnostic or therapeutic (angioplasty, stent, atherectomy, brachytherapy,
etc.) procedure.
The left and right coronary arteries arises from the left and
right aortic sinus of Valsalva and gives out a series of branches as
it makes its way along the surface the heart. The left main coronary
artery, arising from just above the left coronary cusp immediately divides
into the left anterior descending (LAD) and the circumflex (Cx) coronary
arteries. In some cases, the left coronary artery also gives rise to
a third branch that is known as the ramus intermediate or optional diagonal
branch.
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If
a catheter is also placed in the right femoral vein to measure pressures
of the right side of the heart, the procedure is called "right heart"
catheterization. It may be used in certain cases of significant
heart failure or hypotension, constrictive pericarditis, restrictive cardiomyopathy,
valvular heart disease, ruptured ventricular septal defect, congenital
heart diseases, or when a measurement of the heart output and pulmonary
artery and capillary wedge pressures are needed to safely manage the patient
during a diagnostic or therapeutic (angioplasty, stent, atherectomy, brachytherapy,
etc.) procedure.
